Why a domain transfer is paid before it starts, and why it costs a year of renewal

Domains & DNS·· 12 views· 3 min read

The short answer: a transfer is paid first because it is at the moment of the request that we pay the extension's registry, and the registry only moves the domain once that payment is made. What you pay is, in practice, one year of renewal: that year is added to the expiry date the domain already has, so the time you already paid for at the previous provider is not lost. We only ask for the transfer code (EPP) after you pay.

What happens, in order

Stage What goes on
1. Payment You pay the transfer invoice. It is the year of renewal the registry charges to move the domain.
2. EPP code The transfer page opens in My MozOut: you paste the code your current provider gave you, and we send the request.
3. Approval The current provider and the domain contact may have to approve. It usually takes 5 to 7 days.
4. Completed The domain moves to us with its old expiry date plus the year you paid for.

Before you pay, check

1 The domain is more than 60 days old and has not been transferred in the last 60. It is a rule of the generic extensions, not ours.
2 It has not expired. An expired domain, or one in redemption, cannot be transferred: renew it first at the current provider (expired domain).
3 You can get the EPP code from the current provider's panel, and unlock the domain there (registrar lock).
4 Do you really need a transfer? To bring the site to us, changing the nameservers is enough, with no transfer to pay: transfer or just change the nameservers.
If the code is refused, you do not pay again. Ask the current provider for a new code and paste it on the same transfer page. Some national extensions follow their own registry's rules, and then the page and the invoice say what applies.
Your site and e-mail do not have to stop. While the transfer runs, the domain keeps working with the nameservers it already has. The full step by step is in how to transfer a domain to us.

Not sure whether your domain can be transferred yet? Ask us before you pay.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

How to transfer a domain to us

Transfer the domain or just change the nameservers: which one do you need

Registrar lock: what it protects, when to unlock it and when to leave it on

Expired domain: what happens and how long you have to recover it

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